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Contemporary Works in Wood, the 2009 Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize Exhibition
Prize Winner
Christian Burchard
Ashland, Oregon
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Song of the Bones, 2009
Mandrone burl
36” x 6” x 7”
Photo: Rob Jaffe
$4,400
East of Tobruk, 2009
Bleached madrone burl
32” x 31” x 6”
Photo: Rob Jaffe
$5,600
Days of Summer by the Pond, 2009
2009 Raphael Prize winning piece
Bleached madrone burl
42” x 24” x 9”
Photo: Rob Jaffe
Courtesy of the Society for Contemporary Craft
A Certain Attraction, 2005
Bleached madrone burl
42” x 24” x 9”
Photo: Rob Jaffe
$7,400
The Bridge #2, 2009
Madrone burl, various woods
26” x 11” x 6”
Photo: Rob Jaffe
$6,400
To inquire about purchases, email kati@contemporarycraft.org
When I work with madrone panels I am looking for certain patterns—patterns that are known to us from nature, like landscapes, maps or body parts—or images that elicit a visceral response. What is it that makes a particular pattern in the wood look like a torso or a flight of birds?
When the image is quiet enough to have some space for me, it becomes a canvas whose energy I can then manipulate. I either try to step into the surface and flow with the grain and the underlying energy, or I start creating multiple levels of texture, sometimes adding the burning as a separate element, like rain, tears or a tattoo.
Each material has its own life, and one cannot, without punishment, destroy a living material to make a dumb and senseless thing. We must not try to make materials speak our language. We must go with them to the point where others understand their language.
—Constantin Brancusi
2100 Smallman St. Pittsburgh, PA 15222 | 412.261.7003 | www.contemporarycraft.org